


Bottle and a Beat

by rose_coloured



Series: Flowers and Stardust [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friendship, Graduation, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 05:59:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12052782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rose_coloured/pseuds/rose_coloured
Summary: Graduation had been bittersweet for Courfeyrac. After he decided to stay back in his hometown for one more year he had watched all his friends leave for university and had felt more and more alone. The thought of losing his friends had become unbearable. Luckily one of them came back when he was needed the most.





	Bottle and a Beat

Courfeyrac adored autumn, he really did. He loved how the weather got much more bearable, he loved how Halloween and Christmas were approaching and hell he even loved the overpriced drinks at Starbucks.   
But this year he had dreaded the end of summer because this year autumn meant everybody was leaving town.   
They had graduated in July and while they had lived the sweet life of no school and too much booze, he had somehow suppressed the thought of his friends leaving their homes and him.  
And as the leaves on the trees had turned yellow and red way too fast, his friends one after another had bid their goodbye. One after another had left. For law school, for art school. Off to become a doctor, off to become a teacher, off to become something more. 

In the end, he would be left here, alone in this small town. He had decided to take one year off. One year with his mind constantly occupied with what his friends would be up to.   
Objectively talking it had been the right decision. He still wasn't sure what to do with his life and since his grandmother had been in an accident earlier this year from which she was still recovering, he would be the help she needed. He hoped within this year he would get his act together and finally be able to decide what career to pursue in his future.   
Still, he already felt like the one who somehow got separated from the others, without ever leaving. 

Objectively speaking he knew his friends wouldn't forget him.  
Objectively speaking he had more than twenty unread messages from them to prove himself wrong.  
Subjectively speaking he was afraid.

And so he did what they had always done on those giddy days of late summer.   
When school had already been looming on the horizon and the heat had reached the last peak, they had made this small town _their_ kingdom. If you combined a bunch of teenagers with a boring little town and fences which weren't high enough you usually ended up having to chase them through your backyard. You had to throw them out of fast food places and the cinema. More than once had they been stumbling through Javert's garden, more than smashed, and not exactly quiet. They hadn't had a reason to be there, nothing more than a drunk round of “truth or dare” or a stupid bet. One time Courfeyrac had dared Grantaire to put his clothes on one farmer's scarecrow. That had ended with Grantiare wearing only his boxers for the rest of the night. The farmer had even brought back his clothes back. Val Jean was actually a quite nice dude. Whoever got caught during their shenanigans had to provide the booze for the next night. They always managed to get away with anything.

But tonight Courfeyrac didn't feel like risking his life in a police officer's back yard of in a farmer maize field. Instead, he left his room through his window, a real cliche, that was definitely not necessary anymore. But since he had managed to sneak away for the first time slowly climbing down the tree next to his window, he didn't want to unlearn it.   
He took his bike and started cycling the quiet streets. It wasn't at all surprising, that he didn't pass a car in what felt like forever.   
He took a look at his watch It showed that it was just 1 am, so much time to waste. 

A whole year ahead of him. 

In the distance, he heard the sound of thunder. The wind swept his hair and while it still wasn't cold, he shivered.  
Courfeyrac let his thoughts guide him through the streets as he passed so many memorable places. Here Combeferre and he had met, 500m further down the road Bossuet had tried to punch a guy who had harassed Cosette and had broken his hand in the process.   
Half a minute later Cosette had kicked the asshole in the balls.   
Around the corner, Eponine had set pictures of her parents on fire, while Gavroche had laughed the whole time. Grantaires house was pretty close. There the two of them had spent the rest of the night curled on a tattered couch crying.  
It was weird how every corner seemed to hold a story of them. 

In the end, he landed at their school. Of course. Here they had all gotten together, here they had played pranks and here they had graduated. It felt like that had been ages ago.   
The wind dropped small rain drops on Courfeyrac's cheek. And before he could register what was happening it had started to pour down. The rain was warm, a remain of the last few hot days and it seeped through his shirt.  
Trying to stay at least a bit dry Courfeyrac huddled under the small roof at the front door. Thoughtful he watched the rain crash onto the pavement, the trees did bend under the strong wind.   
He didn't know how long he had already been sitting there when he saw a small figure appearing out of the rain.   
While he had managed to stay mostly dry the person in front of him looked like a drenched cat. A very ginger drenched cat, with freckles and a ridiculous mustard yellow sweater. And an uncommonly stressed expression.

“Jehan what are you doing here? I thought you had already left with R?”, Courfeyrac wasn't sure if he wasn't just hallucinating. If this was the case, well... That would be fucked up.  
When his hallucination started speaking he was quite sure the boy was real.   
“Jesus fuck, do you know how long it took me to find you?” Jehan stood in front of him with a lopsided grin. He was completely drenched and his carefully braided hair looked absolutely destroyed. Courfeyrac was sure he saw one or two leaves stick out from it. But Jehan's hazel eyes looked down at him from under his fringe, which stuck to his forehead, kindly. He shook himself like a dog and then sat down next to Courfeyrac, opening his bag and pulling out two bottles of something that looked suspiciously like hard liquor. Jehan was the best person on the planet in this moment. Just kidding he was always the best.  
“Well, yes but let me tell you, why I am here. None of us had heard from you for 4 days and we worried. Also as you might remember I only live twenty minutes away and I have promised to visit you, you dork.” He shrugged and handed Courfeyrac one of the bottles.   
At loss for words, Courfeyrac chose to rather drink than to answer.   
He felt ashamed.   
Of course, he had known, that most of his friends weren't all the way across the country. Still, the panicked part of his brain had just ignored the facts.  
The drink was whiskey, that burnt in his throat and he had to cough embarrassingly after his first swig.   
“I know and I'm sorry. I just needed some time, I guess?”, even in his own ears, Courfeyracs answer sounded unsatisfying. He huffed, annoyed by not being able to form sentences that could express his thoughts. That was more Jehan's thing, being able to find the perfect words in every situation. Finding comforting words that made everything look so small. Jehan always managed to make words his weapons but also used them soft like hugs.   
Courfeyrac leaned back against the glass door of the school and closed his eyes.   
He felt Jehan's gaze on him but didn't bother.  
The other boy sighed, took a swig himself and bumped their shoulders. He stayed right there and laid his head on Courfeyrac's shoulder.

“You do know we aren't going to leave you here all miserable, don't you?”, his voice was serious.  
“Yeah...”  
“You know we love you.”  
“Yeah...”  
“You know we will keep in touch and we come here whenever you need us to.”  
“Yeah...”  
“You know we would never forget you, even if you stayed here forever.”  
“Hm.”

There was a pause. He took another swig and he heard Jehan do the same. It must have been quite difficult to drink for Jehan without lifting his head from Courfeyrac's shoulder. Again silence fell over them, only the rain hitting the roof and the street being audible.  
Then without a warning, Jehan took his bottle, set the two of them aside and grabbed his hand. Courfeyrac opened his eyes as his friend hauled him up to his feet.   
“Come on bro, up we go.” The two of them stumbled a bit, laughing at their bad coordination. They had left the safety of the roof and were now stumbling in the rain.  
Jehan smiled at him brightly, the stray hair, that had once been part of the braid was curling like mad in the rain.   
“So you got me even wetter than I was before, what for?” Courfeyrac demanded jokingly.   
But Jehan only reached for the bottles, gave him his back and grinned at him. Then he bowed in front of him, almost spilling his whiskey: “Dance with me, my friend.”  
“You are crazy.”

 

They danced. Like children, they jumped into puddles, the bottles of whiskey in their hands. They danced and drank their sorrows away. And while Courfeyrac knew that it wasn't a solution it was a small relief for the moment. The rain didn't stop and soon both of them were completely wet, shaking the water out of their hair and wiping it from their faces. Their clothes clung to their bodies as both boys skipped over the pavement.  
The frown had disappeared from Courfeyrac's face and he forgot about this dreadful year that lay ahead of him.   
Right now everything was back to normal, Jehan was like a fucking magician. 

He twirled Jehan around. At some point, they had lost the drinks somewhere. He twirled him, again and again, holding on to his hands, like he could lose him again if he let go. They roared with laughter, so loud Courfeyrac was sure they had woken up the neighbors. And then Jehan stumbled over nothing. He stumbled right into Courfeyrac's arms. He kept laughing, his face pressed into the crook of his friend's neck. The air ghosting over his skin made Courfeyrac shiver. This was new, this was a change in scenery. Jehan smiled up at him. Even in the sparse light of the street lamps, Courfeyrac saw the freckles on Jehan's cheeks and the blush that had spread. He saw the broad smile and how Jehan's eyes crinkled when he truly smiled. 

_God how he would miss that smile._

Without a second thought, he bowed his head and kissed Jehan. He tasted like whiskey and flowers and somehow like all those summers they had spent together.   
The other boy froze at first, surprised by it, but was fast to kiss him back. Courfeyrac didn't know how long they stood there in the rain kissing like there was no tomorrow. He totally forgot about the fact that they were standing in the middle of the street or about the thunder that had come very close. It didn't matter because he was kissing Jehan and after those last days of confusion and fear he felt grounded. He felt home.   
At some point, they split but staying close to each other. Jehan's arms around his neck and his hands on the other boy's hips. Coufeyrac was pretty sure they smiled at each other like complete idiots. Out of nowhere both of them started to laugh again. When they had calmed down Jehan pecked him on the lips and took his hand. “Come on let's get inside before we get struck by lightning.” He had to practically drag Courfeyrac through the streets back to his home. His bike was long forgotten and he didn't want to let go of from Jehan's hand in his. 

He never wanted to let go again. They stumbled through the streets, passed the tree where Bossuet had broken his arm for the first time. They kissed. On this wall over there Grantaire had sprayed his first graffiti. They kissed more, almost stumbling over a pebble. There was the small café, where they had met every Saturday, there Joly and Bossuet had met Musichetta, who had escorted them to the hospital five minutes later after Bossuet had slipped on the floor and broken his arm. Again.  
They kissed on every corner that held a memory, and with every kiss, Courfeyrac grew more assured that he would not be left behind. They all would stay together.

 

And when Courfeyrac woke up the next morning with a terrible hangover, but also with Jehan in his arms he was completely sure, that no distance would ever separate them.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is me trying to write a one-shot, that is not absolutely sad.   
> This is un-betaed and I hope there aren't too many embarrassing errors.  
> While Courfeyrac/Jehan was not my go-to-pairing the two of them are definitely growing on me, so expect more of them.  
> The title is shamelessly taken from All Time Low's "Bottle and a Beat", the song that inspired this one shot.


End file.
